Family Pictures

I just received my family pictures from my amazingly talented photographer, Laurie Tearpock of Hello Sweetheart Photography, and I'm so excited to share! I haven't posted much about my family so I thought I would talk a little bit about them and then share some pointers on what to wear in your own family photos. I have two boys, Colton Scott (he's 4) and Henry Dean (he's 19 months). They are a handful, probably the cause of most my anxiety and seriously the loves of my life! My husband and I think we are going to stop at two kids, but I would be lying if I didn't say I wanted to try for a girl! Either way, they would be the best big brothers. They might get into a lot of trouble, trash the house and get into fights, but they have so much fun together and will hopefully be the best of friends as they get older. Let me just say, getting them to dress up and take pictures is extremely hard! Give yourself enough time to get ready before pictures and make sure everyone is well fed, including the parents. My husband was hangry by the end hehe. In any case, with children so young, don't expect them to cooperate most of the time. Just go with the flow, have fun and trust that your photographer will capture some great shots! Sometimes the best pictures are the ones that are candid!

I'm really happy with the outfits I put together for everyone. I figured I would give some of my tips to picking out the perfect family look: 

1. Go through all your closets and see what possibilities you have with clothes you already own. If you are anything like me, your first instinct is to go out and buy something new, which I did, but it helps to throw stuff together to get an idea of color palette and what pieces are necessary to purchase. Most of us wore our favorite jeans and my husband wore a sweater from his closet because it was the perfect color that I wanted. 

2. Color palette is probably most important. My recommendation would be to choose neutral colors. It's much easier than trying to be matchy matchy with everything. If you like color, do mostly neutrals and add pops of color here and there. I would also avoid too many patterns, it will just look busy, especially if you have a bigger family. Instead, opt for textures and layers. Usually your background will be colorful and pretty, so you want to compliment Mother Nature, not look out of place.

3. Figuring out when and where you want your photos is crucial to choosing an outfit. For my family shoot from a year ago, I wanted summer pictures at the beach. I wore a flowy top and skirt, the boys wore khaki or linen shorts. I kept the colors more white and pastel. Anything "chiffon-like" photographs really well on women. That "flowy" or "dreamy" look it creates make for beautiful pictures, especially at the beach. For this photo shoot, I wanted to do something totally different. I chose the fall and a pretty park with lots of fields and trees. Jeans photograph really well, so to make my life easier we all wore jeans. Boots are always great in fall shoots! 

4. Last, but not least, wear something you are comfortable and confident in! This is not the time to try something new that you would never wear. You don't want to be taking pictures and constantly be worrying about your outfit. Always stay true to yourself and what you like :)

Without further ado, here are my family pictures with my outfit details linked below!

Cardigan: here | Top: here | Scarf: here | Denim: Hudson (old) |
Shoes: here